Do you listen to Mike Tyson?
A word that is abused a lot in the startup space is culture. There is no way you can escape it. And that’s also the reason why I think startups are faster at getting things done. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they are better at doing things. However, the umbrella of culture—supported by a strong value system beneath—goes a long way in getting “good folks” onboard. That’s the primal role a set culture plays in an ecosystem: like begets like. In the public sector, or even the traditional corporate space, the emphasis is mainly on harnessing talents. Little to no heed is paid to whether the candidate is a decent person or not. This disorder is rectified, to a large extent, by organizations that are keen on building their culture as much as they are focused on building their future.
Speaking of culture, would it be fair to assess that Indian culture doesn’t approve of fun? On the basis of first impression, this might sound true. But when you dig deeper, you’d realize that Indian culture, like most vibrant cultures, are rooted in family. Family is everything, and what that translates to is, your happiness shall remain secondary to the collective happiness of the family. This leaves little scope for individualism, and individualism happens to be the direct descendant of fun. Of course, this paragraph carries a very stereotypical view of a rather vast subject. We must all admit by now that defining ‘Indian culture’ is much more difficult than defining ‘Indian’. And therein hides the fun of acquiring knowledge.
I don’t care what you do with your life but if you are going to make an impact, make it last. To burn and fizzle out—with the lifespan of a trending TikTok video—is not worth your time. In theory, whatever you do, or aim to do, doesn’t matter at all. But in practice, every little thing you do, along with the thoughts you put behind them, matter. There are no shortcuts here. Sorry for the inconvenience caused by reality.
There is a lot of pressure on professionals to bring their best to the table. Not an unfair demand given the market in place. Complacency is what drove a lot of entities—Nokia, Yahoo and Skype immediately come to mind—as innovation tends to emerge from intense competition. Better ideas win the day but that also leaves a lot of restless souls who are constantly chasing rainbows in summer. Such individuals don’t realize when to pause and take a deep breath. Somebody advised them to be a force of nature and they took it literally. As if the world is against them and everybody else is a competitor. An anxious person fills the room with anxiety, an insecure person leaves a trail of insecurity. A wiser way to deal with tense situations is to take a step back and quantify what is what and how is how, not what is how and how is what. Something possible only when the said person aims to be a calming force, not a force of nature.
My earliest interaction with technology was a radio we had at our wall-less house in Cheeta Camp (Bombay). It was dear to all the four members of the family because our manoranjan began and ended with it. It was practically on throughout the day, with special attention paid on Sundays, as popular programs played out. Back then, the concept of radio jockey was barely shaping up, and yet, I remember as a boy wanting to say something on radio. My goal was to be heard via live broadcast; could be anything from singing a song to reading out a poem from an English textbook. Secret dreams. It was much later I understood what RJs do and their feathery voice continued to fascinate me. Almost 30 years later, I can tell you, with certainty today, that a RJ’s job isn’t just to play songs. Their job is to make people sing along.
Just like the universe, the traffic is constantly expanding. There is no place on this planet where the traffic is diminishing. From the smallest of towns to the biggest of cities, traffic is bound to grow. Why? Because automobiles are widespread. Where there is will, there is a vehicle. A squeeze in, a lane cut, a honk fest, a parking fight: you might go but traffic isn’t going anywhere. All these little packets of truth point us to the single greatest lesson outside of home: road is the height of compromise. When you are outside, you’ve got to share the space. You stop so that others can move and others halt so that you can move. Outside space is all about sharing and caring. The unwritten code of the road.
During my younger days, I loved mornings. That sleepy freshness of hour, orchestrated by the chirping birds, and the faint sunny sky. Everything about the morning suggested that you are going to make it. A false promise but a necessary promise. As I grew older, my leaning towards the sunset grew stronger. As of now, I believe evening is the best time to be alive. The sky skews towards strokes of purple, birds return to their nests, bats prepare to leave for their hunt (or to plan the next pandemic?), and humans are done with the day. It’s quite an experience to observe people during sunset. They survived the many unspoken travails of the day—bad job, horrible bosses, unrealistic expectations, low motivation, high demand—and are now heading home to the sweet comfort of home. In essence, they are done with life but at the same time, they are going to celebrate life.
OTT platforms have highlighted the importance of two things in our existence: content and choice. They throw so much content at our silly faces that we are spoilt for choice. We don’t know what we want anymore. When there were fewer options, we liked and respected stuff. Nowadays, excess has led to a lower amount of patience at our end. Interestingly, none of these observations apply to my pappa. He watches whatever YouTube shows him. He doesn’t know, despite being taught several times, how to search content using the search bar. He just clicks on whatever pops up on his screen. That explains why he is watching a slew of old Hindi films one day, random dance videos the next day, and he would watch Konkani plays over the weekend and the Malayalam cooking videos the following week. An ideal audience, he is.
In Fight Club, the writer Chuck Pahnuick asked, if you wake up in a different place, do you wake up as a different person? Such a splendid question. Whenever things take a turn for the worse, humans show escapist tendencies and seek solace in the possibility of leaving the troubling stuff behind and moving to a new place. But what’s the guarantee that you are moving to something better? After all, wherever you go, you remain the same, right? Or does choosing hills over the coast make a peculiar difference? I don’t know. Just asking. If you ask me, I don’t care about this existential nonsense to be frank. I deal with greater questions in life. For instance, sometimes, I wonder, what kind of a person I’d have been if I had a big dick? My best guess is, I wouldn’t have been half as considerate.
Now that we are dwelling onto the treacherous terrain of physical consumption, let me walk you through some theories i.e. half-conclusions. Top of the list: how does one retire from sex? I mean, have you ever heard of anyone declaring that they have officially given up on bodily congress? No point pushing the cart of desire? No, I am not talking about religious obligations. Besides, organized religions are only interested in (married) couples’ healthy sex life as long as ‘heterosexual’ offsprings are in order. Anyhow, I am concerned more about folks who realized that some things are not for them. Like jumping off a plane for adventure or snorkelling with sharks in Madagascar. So, these people must have thought that the pursuit of sex is simply not worth their time and effort. Fuck it. No pun intended. No fun intended, either.
I consider myself a very understanding person (no joke) but I fail to understand people who say they believe in god but aren’t interested in charity. Seriously? You want your gods to give you something and then don’t want to give some of that something to someone else? That doesn’t even make sense. If anything, God is giving you something so that you can carry on the holy work of passing it on to someone else. If not, why would she give you something in the first place? The only reason she chose you is because she wants to lessen her work load. In other words, she wants you to help her with her chore. You are not the chosen one, per se. You are just appointed for liaison. You are not fortunate/lucky/etc. You are given so that you can share it further. But your selfish little ass doesn’t even get this, does it?
Say what you may about Johnny Depp but he hired a solid legal team. On the other hand, Amber Heard assembled quite a wanting group of lawyers who appeared to have cheated during their bar exams. In a lawsuit, only the arguments matter. Nobody cares about the truth because at a celebrity level, circus overtakes justice. There is a reason why there is a dash of fans waiting day in and out to catch a glimpse of their ageing Hollywood star. They don’t care what he did (to her) or what she did (to him) because it’s impossible to know for certain. One person’s word against another. That’s all. However, coming back to the lawyers, I’d be mighty surprised if Depp’s team loses this case.
He went to jail for the first time at the age of 8 and had already faced 38 arrests by the age of 13. He was the youngest world champion (an unbroken record) at 20. He was convicted of rape at the age of 30. By the time he reached 40, he was bankrupt, with most of his hard-fought millions going down the lawsuit drain. We are obviously talking about Mike Tyson here. A man once dubbed ‘the baddest man on the planet’, he is such a delight to listen to in his older days. His wisdom appears to be founded on humility and acute self-awareness. Maybe this is possible only when a champion accepts the tenets of championship. A true champion is not someone attached to the winner’s belts because they have to leave his waist sooner or later. A true champion is someone who rises from the mistakes of his past to carve out a person who is much better than his yesterdays.